86 Bullets

By Jay Oakley and Christie Gerber

We're here with 86 Bullets and first off tell us who you are and what you do.

Steve Graybeal: Steve, lead singer.

Chris Elliott: Chris, guitar.

Eric Dee: Eric Dee, bass.

Jerry Oxendine: Jerry, the drummer.

So, you guys are playing M3 today and it's your first time playing it. How do you feel?

Steve: I'm pretty pumped, man. I can't wait. It's been a lot of build up for a half an hour show and we're gonna rock it. Absolutely.

Chris: yeah man, we're stoked. It's cool, I dig all these bands and it's awesome to get to do it and get this opportunity, so I think we're all pretty stoked, man.

Eric: Yeah, definitely excited. Hell yeah.

Jerry: Rock and roll.

How did the gig come to you?

Steve: Yeah know, I think word of mouth, man. To be honest, I found out online. There was a guy that tagged me, one of my friends. He was like, "Are you guys playing M3?" and I said there was rumblings about it but I didn't know for sure. But, I think they just saw us somewhere and somebody pulled the trigger and said that they wanted us to play.

Eric: We got together, we wrote some tunes, we played a couple shows and somebody at one of the shows saw us, made the connection and we got a phone call is, basically, how it went down.

So, from what I hear, you have some goodies that you'll be bringing in for the fans during your set to make it a little more fun. One of those being a CD. Is that the current recorded work for you?

Steve: Yes, it's just a demo. We're going back into the studio after we play. Shortly, in the next two or three weeks.

Eric: In about ten minutes! [All laugh]

Chris: We're re-recording everything that's on that disk.

It's now a live album.

Collectively: Yeah, exactly. There you go!

You guys should do that.

Eric: I brought a little recorder. I always record my shows but it's not going to be the best sound.

Chris: I also brought a Go-Pro. I was thinking about doing a little video, behind the scenes.

One more thing that I'd like you to talk about because it's really only a day or two old. We talked about it when I called you and you just pretty much posted it. You guys just landed a spot playing with Michael Angelo Batio at Fish Head Cantina. Do tell because it was very sudden and I do know that there is an unfortunate reason for this particular show.

Steve: A friend of ours, he unfortunately got into a bad accident. I don't know, is he home now?

He is home. We know him as well.

Steve: It was already in the works that we were talking to the gentleman who books that room and I saw that he made a post on Facebook and I like to strike when opportunity is there. So, I hit him up and I asked him if there was anybody opening up for that show and he said, "No, not yet." I told him we were playing M3 on Friday and it would be a great time for us to be able to promote it. At this point, I was thinking about what would make sense for doing this. Is there anythingwe can do to help because we saw the Go Fund Me campaign for Thane (Farace) and wondered what we could do to help out. It popped into my mind that any tickets we sell and all the money we make can go straight to Thane and help out however we can. I think that Brian (Smith) from Baltimore Sound Management was looking to do another thing, beyond this as well. So, we may be included in that but I'm not sure. But, to get the ball rolling and try to help out the best way we can. I ran it past the guys and everyone was into it immediately.

Chris: He was originally supposed to play that show. So what a great thing for us to be able to do that. Some of his fans can come out, buy the ticket and the money for whatever our cut is will go straight to him so that's a good way for his fans to support him as well.

Guys, thanks so much! We don't want to hold you up so you guys can go out and do your set. Thank you so much for taking a little bit of time to talk to us.

Collectively: Thank you! It was a pleasure.